Sports equipment designed for women, by women

Harvard Grid panel explores lack of female representation in athletic product design

By Matt Goisman | Press contact
November 12, 2024


Sara Falkson, MDE '25, leads panelists Jamie Mittleman, Lauren Scruggs and Christine Yu at “Inclusion by Design: Women in Sports.” (Matt Goisman/SEAS)

Much of the equipment and apparel used by female athletes could use an update. Tampon design hasn’t changed much since the product debuted in 1931, despite many women reporting discomfort wearing one while on the field. Female runners resort to any number of strategies to mitigate the lack of support in sports bras, from wearing two at the same time to undergoing top reduction surgery. Even locker rooms don’t take into consideration how scary a lack of privacy can be to a young girl beginning puberty.

Increasing the number of women in sports research and product design is a way to jump-start some much needed innovation in this space. That topic was explored at “Inclusion by Design: Women in Sports,” a Harvard Grid panel that recently took place at the Science and Engineering Complex at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). ... “We must design products and places that are safe and inclusive,” said Sara Falkson, event host and Master in Design Engineering graduate student at SEAS and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). “Female designers must ascend into leadership roles to disentangle the gender design gaps and help athletes excel at every stage of life.”

Falkson led a panel of three women in a discussion of the state of women’s sports, touching on a range of topics including perceptions of female athletes, differences in quality in athletic venues for men and women, insulting and potentially dangerous approaches to women’s sports equipment design, and the lack of female athletes in research initiatives. The panel consisted of: Lauren Scruggs, a fourth-year philosophy concentrator and member of the Harvard women’s fencing team, who won an team gold and individual silver medal at the Paris Olympics; Christine Yu, journalist and author of Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes; and Jamie Mittleman, founder of Flame Bearers, a media company dedicated to advancing the stories of female athletes.

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